Posts

August 2020 – Fred Clarke (online presentation)

Submitted by Helge W. on Fri, 07/24/2020 - 10:31am

Fred ClarkeFred ClarkeOne of our most favorite speakers, Fred Clarke, will be speaking on "Cattleya mossiae, the queen of Venezuelan Cattleyas" at our joint Zoom meeting on Tuesday, August 4th at 7:30 pm (details to follow via email). Fred will present a beautiful expose of C. mossiae in the wild with amazing pictures of thousands of flowers covering the trees. Once the most popular corsage flowers for Mother’s day, C. mossiae is now rarely seen in collections and cut flower trade. Fred’s PowerPoint presentation will feature magnificent pictures of C. mossiae in the wild as he discusses the habitat and the perils that await the future for the queen of Venezuelan Cattleyas.

As many of our members know, Fred Clarke is the owner of Sunset Valley Orchids in Vista. He has been growing orchids for over 42 years and has been hybridizing for 38 of those years. With over 34 years as a professional grower and manager in the horticultural industry, Fred applies these skills at his orchid nursery, Sunset Valley Orchids, located in Vista, California. He is a passionate orchid grower whose curiosity in orchids is broad and varied.  Although developing Cattleya hybrids has been his sustaining interest, he is also actively creating new Paphiopedilum and Aussie Dendrobium hybrids plus some others to be named if they work out!   Read more »

Date: 
Tue, 08/04/2020 - 7:30pm - 9:30pm

July 2020 – Peter Lin (online presentation)

Submitted by Helge W. on Sat, 07/04/2020 - 5:38pm

Peter LinPeter LinPeter T. Lin will be presenting a fast paced PowerPoint presentation on the fascinating Dendrobium genus, which consist of over 1000 species! For details on how to attend this online presentation, please contact info@palomarorchid.org.

Dendrobiums are primarily found in Asia, New Guinea and Australia. There are many different classifications within the genus, with species ranging from tiny miniatures to huge giants. They grow in climates ranging from hot and steamy lowlands, cool and moist mountain ranges, to seasonally dry savannas. Many are quite temperature tolerant and can be grown outside in frost-free areas. Peter will review a few of the important species in each classification. He will provide some basic cultural advice for each species, and there will be time for questions at the end of the program.

Peter started growing orchids over 25 years ago, but then stopped due to school and starting a career. It wasn't until about 7 years ago that the orchid "bug" came back and he is now heavily involved once again. He is an accredited judge with the American Orchid Society and a hybridizer of mini-catts. He enjoys meeting with other orchid enthusiasts, and can often be found at various orchid shows and societies around the country. He also has hundreds of photos of his orchids that he maintains on Flickr.   Read more »

Date: 
Tue, 07/07/2020 - 7:30pm - 9:00pm

March 2020 - Orchid Culture Meeting

Submitted by Helge W. on Thu, 02/27/2020 - 1:18pm

Our March meeting will be a continuation of last month’s culture meeting when we focused on cymbidiums. Since we are in the early stages of the orchid growing season, this month’s topic will concentrate on growing and repotting other types of orchids including members of the cattleya alliance, oncidiums, dendrobiums and phalaenopsis, the basics of which should be applicable to many other orchids that our members tend to grow. Our meeting will continue with two of our very experienced growers, Alex Nadzan and Ken Campbell.  Alex will demonstrate repotting and dividing of cattleyas and related orchids as well as phalaenopsis orchids, describing the similarities and differences among the common ones we grow. Alex also will briefly summarize the basics on general repotting that he did last month. For those of you who missed the February program, you may download the handouts provided at the last meeting by visiting the POS website (www.palomarorchid.org) and finding the speaker handouts under the meetings pull down menu. 

Ken Campbell, who has some experience and success with mounting cattleya and phalaenopsis orchids, will demonstrate how to mount them and provide some tips on how to grow them.  

In addition, Bill Wong will give a demo on using the virus test kits during the break for those members who want to see how they are used to detect the most common orchid viruses (CMV and ORSV).

Alex and Ken will address any questions you may have so bring your questions to the meeting or, if you prefer, provide them in advance to Alex at anadzan@mac.com or by phone at 760-529-5814.  This should be another very educational session for all who want to get a head start on the upcoming orchid growing and repotting season.

Finally, the plant table this month will be provided by one of our local growers.

Date: 
Wed, 03/04/2020 - 6:30pm - 9:30pm

February 2020 – Orchid Culture Meeting

Submitted by Helge W. on Sat, 02/01/2020 - 4:28pm

We are now in the midst of the cymbidium flowering season and, thus, our first culture meeting of the year will be devoted to growing and dividing/repotting of these beautiful and easy to grow orchids that are ideally suited for our Southern California climate.  Our first culture meeting will feature two of our very experienced growers, Jerry Spencer and Alex Nadzan. Alex will begin the session with reviewing general information on getting ready for the upcoming growing and repotting season that should help both beginners and more seasoned growers prepare for the busiest part of our orchid growing season. He will provide some tips and valuable sources of information and supplies and also will share his experience in growing and blooming these easy to grow orchids. 

Anita and Jerry Spencer are renown for their award winning cymbidiums displayed at our local shows as well as at our meeting show-and-tells. They are expert growers of these popular plants and Jerry will share some of his methods for successful growing and blooming of cymbidiums.  He also will give a demo on dividing and repotting large cymbidiums that should aid all attendees in their efforts for maintaining and blooming cymbidiums. 

Alex and Jerry will address any questions you may have so bring your questions to the meeting or, if you prefer, provide them in advance to Alex at anadzan@mac.com or by phone at 760-529-5814.  This should be a very interesting and educational session for all who want to get a head start on the upcoming orchid growing season.  Orchid Culture Meeting II in March will concentrate on other popular classes of orchids including cattleyas, oncidiums, phalaenopsis and related orchids. 

Finally, Jerry and Anita will be providing the plant table this month.

Date: 
Wed, 02/05/2020 - 6:00pm - 9:30pm

January 2020 – Mary Gerritsen

Submitted by Helge W. on Mon, 01/06/2020 - 11:55am

Mary GerritsenMary GerritsenWe are delighted to welcome back Mary Gerritsen from the San Francisco Bay area who will speak to us on ‘Miniature Orchids and How to Grow Them’.  Mary defines miniatures as those species whose individual growths are smaller than 6 inches not including the inflorescence.  These compact orchids are a popular choice for orchid hobbyists with limited growing space. In contrast to many of their larger counterparts, many miniature orchids are attractive in or out of bloom. Mary’s lecture will cover many of her favorite species as well as discussing the challenges and rewards of growing miniature orchids. Mary is an expert on this topic and has co-authored “A Compendium of Miniature Orchid Species” with San Francisco Bay area photographer and author, Ron Parsons.    Read more »

Date: 
Wed, 01/08/2020 - 6:30pm - 9:30pm

Annual Holiday Dinner 2019

Submitted by Helge W. on Mon, 11/11/2019 - 3:41pm

The Palomar Orchid Society will be holding their annual Holiday Dinner and Officer installation on Wednesday, December 4 at the Lake San Marcos Pavilion. This is the same location as last year and located right next to our current monthly meeting location at 1105 La Bonita Dr., San Marcos, CA 92078.

If you are interested in attending our fun dinner to celebrate the holidays with fellow orchidists, please fill out the form below and send it in with your check no later than Wednesday, November 20 as specified in the form below. No payments or reservation are accepted at the door!

Please contact Bill Wong by November 15 to reserve your place at the table. This would very much help us with getting a head count. Bill’s phone number is (818) 636-8709 and his email is billtcwong@att.net.   Read more »

November 2019 – Peter Lin

Submitted by Helge W. on Thu, 10/24/2019 - 2:35pm

Peter LinPeter LinWe are very happy to welcome back one of our more popular speakers, Peter T. Lin. Peter will share with us a power point presentation on the Japan Grand Prix International Orchid Festival, also know as the Tokyo Dome Show. This annual orchid show, held at the Tokyo Dome in Japan, attracts over 300,000 visitors. With thousands of orchids featured, the show displays range from the very large displays to miniature dish gardens, to individual plants. Even the Vendor Sales area is like a Orchid show! One of the highlights of the show is the display of Asian Cymbidium species, featuring priceless Cymbidium goeringii varieties not seen in the US before. No need to travel….come and see a grand show from the comfort of our meeting room!

Peter started growing orchids over 25 years ago, but then stopped due to school and starting a career. It wasn't until about 7 years ago that the orchid "bug" came back and he is now heavily involved once again. He is an accredited judge with the American Orchid Society and a hybridizer of mini-cattleyas. He enjoys meeting with other orchid enthusiasts, and can often be found at various orchid shows and societies around the country. He also has hundreds of photos of his orchids that he maintains on Flickr.   Read more »

Date: 
Wed, 11/06/2019 - 6:30pm - 9:30pm

October 2019 – Alan Koch

Submitted by Helge W. on Sat, 09/28/2019 - 3:29pm

Alan KochAlan KochIt is a distinct pleasure to welcome back Alan Koch of Gold Country Orchids in Lincoln, CA.  Alan will be speaking to us on ‘Cattleyas 365, 24/7’ where he will provide us the knowledge on how to build a cattleya collection that will flower all year long and tell us how to grow them.  Alan will highlight the species that have been used by hybridizers for years to control bloom time and his talk will be adapted to our climate conditions.  He also will provide the plant opportunity table including some of his novel hybrid cattleyas and related orchids. 

Alan’s visit is being co-sponsored by POS and SDCOS. He will be speaking on Oct. 1 in Balboa Park on ‘Unusual Species for the Cattleya Grower’. More details can be found on the SDCOS website.   Read more »

Date: 
Wed, 10/02/2019 - 6:30pm - 9:30pm

September 2019 – James Rose

Submitted by Helge W. on Wed, 09/04/2019 - 8:36am

James RoseJames RoseWe are delighted to welcome back James Rose of Cal-Orchid, Santa Barbara to speak to our society. James and his wife, Lauris, are the owners of Cal-Orchid, a very successful and favorite nursery of many of our members. James is a highly experienced orchid nurseryman who will share with us his ’10 Favorite Orchids’, which encompass a large variety of orchid species from around the world. James talks are always educational and highly entertaining so I urge our members and friends to attend his talk. James also will provide our plant table.

James is being sponsored jointly by POS and SDCOS, He will be speaking on the same subject at the SDCOS meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 3, if you are unable to attend on Wednesday evening.

James attended UC Santa Barbara as an anthropology major. In 1971 he began working at Santa Barbara Orchid Estate.  16 years later, now the nursery's manager, he left to established his own nursery with his wife, Lauris. In 1987 they purchased Orchids By Rowe, a 2 acre cymbidium nursery 2 blocks from the Pacific Ocean. Jim and Lauris totally redesigned the former cymbidium cut flower business to what is now a world renowned orchid nursery providing one of the largest varieties of orchid species and hybrids in the U.S.

Cal-Orchid maintains an active breeding program and a stud collection built upon decades of international travel. James is very well known for having a distinctively selective 'eye' for the new, unusual plant, and Cal-Orchid's customers enjoy reaping the benefits.   Read more »

Date: 
Wed, 09/04/2019 - 6:30pm - 9:30pm

August 2019 – Arthur Pinkers

Submitted by Helge W. on Tue, 07/30/2019 - 12:41pm
Arthur PinkersArthur PinkersWe are happy to welcome back Arthur Pinkers to our society who will speak to us on ‘Heat Tolerant Oncidiums’.  Arthur will inform us that these are a wonderful group of orchids that come from South and Central America and the Caribbean providing a diversity of size, shape and color. He will explore some of the species that provide warmth tolerance in hybrids and the hybrids themselves as we look at members that would be better suited for our Southern California environment. Arthur also will explore the cultural requirements these orchids need to be successful in our area. Arthur’s visit is being cosponsored by our society and SDCOS where he will be speaking on Tuesday evening on a separate topic in Balboa Park.
Arthur Pinkers has been an orchid enthusiast since the age of sixteen, when he acquired a plant of Slc. Glittering Jewel (Sl. Gratixiae x Slc. Hermes), which infected him with the orchid bug.  His forty plus years of experience growing orchids started in the Pacific Northwest with a green house to fend off the cold, rainy days, but a decade ago a job change forced him to move to Santa Clarita, California, where the conditions are extreme for growing orchids.
Growing up in the Seattle area, Arthur attended Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington, graduating with a B.S. in Chemistry and Biology.  He worked for many years as a chemist, and had the fortune of having his dream job as the Lab Director for Beall Orchid Company until shortly before its close in 1990.
Date: 
Wed, 08/07/2019 - 6:30pm - 9:30pm
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